Tất cả các doanh nhân Nhật Bản mặc vest đen đâu rồi?

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Every year from May to September, Japan’s famously conservative corporate workers and government employees set aside their stiff, dark suits (cất vest tối màu, cứng cáp) for more casual attire (quần áo đơn giản). Out go the neckties and starched (cứng nhắc, nghi thức) shirts; in come short-sleeved polos and linen shirts, even the occasional Hawaiian. Then, as the calendar approaches October, formality returns, if not drastically cooler temperatures (nhiệt độ mát hơn đáng kể).

The metamorphosis (biến đổi, thay đổi, biến hình) is part of a Japanese initiative known as “Cool Biz,” a glass-half-full description of what could just as easily be called “Hot Office.” Starting on May 1, workplaces set their thermostats (bộ điều nhiệt) at 28 degrees Celsius, or above 82 degrees Fahrenheit, to save energy, a sweaty proposition in humid Tokyo.

Uncomfortable though they may be, Japanese offices offer a model for how countries around the world can reduce greenhouse gas emissions that have contributed to record-breaking heat waves and extreme weather events.

...Cool Biz is one of a number of simple, cost-effective energy savings initiatives in Japan, a resource-poor country (quốc gia nghèo tài nguyên) that relies on fuel imports (nhiên liệu nhập khẩu) for nearly 90 percent of its energy needs. The measures have helped keep Japan’s per capita energy consumption to roughly half that of the United States, according to statistics from the Energy Institute, based in London.

Unlike Japanese workers, Americans have been hostile (thù địch) to the idea of thermal discomfort. During the oil shock of the 1970s, President Jimmy Carter became a national punching bag (kẻ bị cả quốc gia ném đá) for daring to ask people to turn down the thermostat and put on an extra layer. In the summer, many American offices are still kept so cold that workers resort to space heaters and sweaters.